Chinese Olympic wheelchair athlete attacked

By
Caleb T. Maupin

Published Apr 27, 2008 10:08 PM

Jin Jing holdingOlympic torch in Paris.

Jin Jing had a smile on her face as she rolled her wheelchair through the
streets of Paris. Her smile was undeterred by the fact that anti-Chinese
Tibetan separatists, dressed in black and bearing a fictional “Tibetan
flag,” violently attacked her as she bore the Olympic torch through the
streets.

Jin Jing, whose name means “gold,” was born in Shanghai, the
daughter of two workers. At the age of nine she suffered from a cancerous tumor
in her ankle, which required the amputation of her leg. But this did not stop
Jin Jing. She helped her family by working as a switchboard operator at a hotel
until she got the idea to become an athlete. (China Daily)

It was when she participated in a speech contest in 2001 that she was
introduced to the idea of getting involved in sports. She said she wanted to
become a fencer because one of her childhood favorites was Zorro, the fictional
television hero who fought the agents of Spanish colonialism. Perhaps images of
Zorro’s battles with corrupt Spanish officials were with her as she
clutched the torch away from servants not of Spanish colonialism, but of U.S.
finance capital. (China Daily)

Jin Jing has participated in six international wheelchair fencing contests and
won six medals: two silver and four bronze.

After defeating the anti-China agents, she sent a text message to her mother,
reading, “You can be proud of me.” Before the press and the crowds
of cheering Chinese students in the streets of Paris, Jin raised her left fist
and shouted “Go China” at the top of her lungs, according to
reports in the Chinese media.

Jin Jing has made it clear that she is in opposition to the U.S.-funded cause
of Tibetan separatism. Jin has also said she is very proud to be representing
her country the first time it will host the Olympic events.

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